ST. PAUL, Minn. — A bracing wave of Arctic air swept across much of the nation on Wednesday, suddenly turning what had been a relatively mild winter into a shivering misery that has caused several deaths in the Midwest and prompted cities along the Eastern Seaboard to open emergency shelters.
The freezing weather, which arrived in the Midwest late last week, has plunged temperatures to record lows in portions of the northern tier of the country, chilling even those well adapted to frigid winters.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A bracing wave of Arctic air swept across much of the nation on Wednesday, suddenly turning what had been a relatively mild winter into a shivering misery that has caused several deaths in the Midwest and prompted cities along the Eastern Seaboard to open emergency shelters.
International Falls, Minn., the self-proclaimed Icebox of the Nation, reached a high of 5 degrees below zero on Wednesday before falling to an expected low of 32 degrees below zero, according to the National Weather Service. Factoring in wind chill, the low in International Falls, which is near the Canadian border, was expected to be 40 degrees below zero on Wednesday night.
Almost as cold were Duluth, Minn., on Lake Superior in the northeastern part of the state, where temperatures were forecast to drop to 17 below zero, and Minneapolis and St. Paul, in comparison, with an expected low of 7 degrees below.
Isaac Arreguin, 23, was waiting for a bus in St. Paul on Wednesday afternoon, having forgotten his scarf and gloves.
“I’m pretty O.K.,” he said, sniffing. “It’s the combination of the cold and the wind that’s getting me.”
Not far away, Terry Och, 47, a security guard, who was on duty near the Cathedral of Saint Paul, was putting on a braver face. His cold-weather armor? “Hat, hood, four coats, two long johns, four socks, gloves with the handwarmers inside.”
“I love the winter,” he said. “You got to like the cold to live in it and be out like this.”
In Grand Forks, N.D., the deep chill was brushed aside as child’s play, even as the forecast for the next three days predicted that temperatures would go no higher than 6 degrees on Thursday and fall to 16 degrees below zero on Friday.
Almost as cold were Duluth, Minn., on Lake Superior in the northeastern part of the state, where temperatures were forecast to drop to 17 below zero, and Minneapolis and St. Paul, in comparison, with an expected low of 7 degrees below.
Isaac Arreguin, 23, was waiting for a bus in St. Paul on Wednesday afternoon, having forgotten his scarf and gloves.
“I’m pretty O.K.,” he said, sniffing. “It’s the combination of the cold and the wind that’s getting me.”
Not far away, Terry Och, 47, a security guard, who was on duty near the Cathedral of Saint Paul, was putting on a braver face. His cold-weather armor? “Hat, hood, four coats, two long johns, four socks, gloves with the handwarmers inside.”
“I love the winter,” he said. “You got to like the cold to live in it and be out like this.”
In Grand Forks, N.D., the deep chill was brushed aside as child’s play, even as the forecast for the next three days predicted that temperatures would go no higher than 6 degrees on Thursday and fall to 16 degrees below zero on Friday.
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